Courage Reborn

When I read Anne Frank's diary as a young girl it rocked my world. Her story is an extraordinary one with very ordinary moments. It was in the ordinary moments that I saw her and knew that I just really liked her. She felt almost familiar, like we could have been friends. Her words stirred something in me and made me feel.

It was her story, a story she never knew would reach the world like it has. A story told from the call from her heart and the stirring in her gut.

I am so grateful she wrote. Her Legacy lives on through her words. She gave us an intimate light into a very significant moment in time. In her pain and in her sweetness, we were given gift.

I started keeping a diary or journal shortly after I read hers. Writing has always been a release for me. While putting something on paper or onto a keyboard, I am given a space of unconditional acceptance and the l luxury of time. It is the time I need to give words to the silent yet fiery stirrings of my gut and calls of my heart.

I have written on and off for years since then. In journals, blogs, scrap pieces of paper....it has always been the space for me to find out who I AM.

Today is the last day of this 31 day challenge.

As I reflect on why I did this, how I did this, and what is next, I am met with a fear and a relief that this is bigger then me.

I jumped in with the hopes of finding some wings to carry me along the way. I was holding on for dear life never knowing what the heck I was going to do tomorrow. Then, I found myself flying from one post to the next, always given the soft breeze to carry me on to that next branch. The wings had been there all along. I only needed to jump to feel them.

I choose Legacy as my topic. I couldn't imagine what that really even meant.

I thought this meant I would write about the Legacy that came before me. I would connect the dots, celebrate the history, and learn from it. Sounds great, no?

It didn't take me long to see that these were not my stories to tell, the dots deserved the respect of being connected privately, and learning from our personal history is an intimate adventure to be done with the ones we share it with. Period.

At least for now.

To my surprise, this challenge brought me back. It reminded me of when I started my first journal at 13/14. When I would pour my heart out onto the paper with a teenage angst and desperation only to read it back and hear a still,quiet, and Holy voice. The voice of my heart. The voice I want to listen to, to be guided by, and to fly with.

I didn't see it coming but 31 Days of Legacy took on a whole new meaning.

My ordinary moments are being weaved into an extraordinary story. A story that will give my girls a glimpse into a moment of time. A story that will show both struggle and grace. A story that will scream with doubt at times and story that will sing with courage at others.

I have the opportunity to take this moment of time and shine an intimate light for the Legacy I leave behind. The significance of this is not for me to decide.

What I know today, my courage has been reborn.